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| WAAF girl's who served at RAF Watnall |
It's Battle of Britain Day today so we celebrate RAF Watnall's own vital "few", the WAAF girls who worked underground in RAF Watnall's top secret bunkers...
The WAAF girls who worked underground in RAF Watnall's top secret bunkers were a select band of hand-picked and well-educated girls who had to be good at complex maths and cool under pressure. They were a vital cog in the RAF's "Dowding System" which gave early warning of enemy air raids. Due to the secrecy of the work they were simply called "Special Duties Clerks".
Radar was extremely primitive and the readings from several radar stations had to be telephoned in and then "filtered" by staff in RAF Watnall's Filter Room in order to give a clear and accurate depiction of incoming aircraft. This meant it had to be mathematically analysed, triangulated and collated with human Observer Corps data before it could be relied on. They had to sign the Official Secrets Act and could not tell their families what they did, a secret many of them kept for years after the war. They were not even allowed to mention the words "Filter Room" amongst themselves instead using their own code "Freddie Roberts".
Second Lt. Stephen W. DeBlois, U.S. Engineers Signal Corps., who was stationed at Ripperston for 6-9 months 1942 – 1943, takes up the story. The following are notes from his dictations; his memoirs, which we were kindly given by his daughter. “We were located in a field of maybe about five or six miles west of Haverfordwest and the site were on a level field quite high and was oriented towards the coast. The field was heavily dominated by sheep which turned out to be a great nuisance. Our equipment was lined up in a single file much the same as a circus parade. The first vehicle in the line was the Antenna Van which was a vertically rotating antenna and was propelled by a bicycle mechanism which one of the airman would keep going and directing it by means of a telephone connection back to the Operations Van. The purpose of lining up everything in a single file was to keep the radar shadow to an absolute minimum. When the antenna looked back along the line the return would produce ground clutter to a point where it saw nothing. Next in line was the Operations Van which housed all the equipment for the radar and radio equipment plus the controller and the other 76 Wing personnel. Next in line was the Lister diesel generator which furnished all the power for the station. A truck with all the equipment stores and spares plus a vehicle behind that and finally at the very end was the antenna for the wireless telephone. The latter was necessary because the controller had to talk by wireless with the pilot in the night fighter. The Lister diesel generator was interesting because it was hand started and was a brute of a thing. The handle was sufficiently long so two or three men could turn the crank to get it started. Once it got going it was left that way and was very reliable. A telephone line was fed in so as to get the information from our operations vehicle back to the sector operations centre. Located quite some distance from the parade line of our vehicles was a hastily erected Nissan hut which provided offices for the Commanding Officers, a mess room for the personnel, a first-aid room and then the restrooms. The four controllers had rooms where they slept and were not billeted in the village. In the Operations Vehicle the radar and radio equipment was all mounted at the front of the van and in the back was desks which housed the two cathode-ray oscilloscopes and a third position for the telephone operator. The controller sat on the right and his display was a PPI or Plan Position Indicator, cathode-ray oscilloscope. Above this equipment was clear Perspex like board which had a map of our sector on it so that when an aircraft was seen on the scope it could be identified as being in a certain square. Next to the controller typically there was a W.A.A.F Sergeant who sat in front of an x-y display cathode-ray scope. In this case the transmitting beam was on the right going vertically upward and then on the horizontal scale which was distance there was the ground clutter or a series of little ups and downs along the path. When a radar signal was received it would be a spike that would appear vertically and its position from the extreme right-hand side measured the distance it was from the station. The WAAF Sergeant who sat at this position had a switch which she could move back and forth to various arrays of the antenna and by so doing there would be two spikes and from the difference in heights of the two spikes she would determine altitude of the aircraft. The third position at the desk was for the telephone operator and she had an open wire line with the operation headquarters. If there were any enemy aircraft in or near our area, it would be advised from Group Command and likewise we would report back what we were seeing and doing. The equipment was in operation 22 hours a day, a two hour shutdown or off the air for maintenance and training and adjusting the equipment.
This sophisticated, high-tech early warning system was unmatched anywhere in the world. Incoming German aircraft were often surprised and puzzled to see RAF fighters already airborne and waiting for them. It undoubtedly gave the RAF a vital edge and, as Winston Churchill himself said, was a key factor in winning the Battle of Britain.
The RAF's technical boffins were constantly improving the radar systems and were a familiar presence in the Filter Room monitoring its performance. The early "Chain Home" radar masts were fixed in position, looking out to sea, but the next generation were able to rotate by the comical-sounding means of bicycle chains and pedals allowing them follow enemy aircraft inland.
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| Bicycle pedal-controlled Ground Control Interception radar was able to rotate to follow enemy aircraft inland |
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| Mary Harrison who served at Watnall during WW2 sketched the Operations Room bunker |
Watnall's WAAFs are celebrated in greater detail in my other "Wartime Watnall" articles here... https://watnallhall.blogspot.com/search/label/wartime%20watnall
The Chain Home radar system and early radar development is explored here
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| The Rolls-Royce Spitfire, a familiar sight in the post war skies above Watnall and below in Battle of Britain Memorial Flight livery... |
Notes and Sources
Bike control memoires
https://theradarrooms.co.uk/gci-radar-station/
Second Lt. Stephen W. DeBlois, U.S. Engineers Signal Corps., who was stationed at Ripperston for 6-9 months 1942 – 1943, takes up the story. The following are notes from his dictations; his memoirs, which we were kindly given by his daughter. “We were located in a field of maybe about five or six miles west of Haverfordwest and the site were on a level field quite high and was oriented towards the coast. The field was heavily dominated by sheep which turned out to be a great nuisance. Our equipment was lined up in a single file much the same as a circus parade. The first vehicle in the line was the Antenna Van which was a vertically rotating antenna and was propelled by a bicycle mechanism which one of the airman would keep going and directing it by means of a telephone connection back to the Operations Van. The purpose of lining up everything in a single file was to keep the radar shadow to an absolute minimum. When the antenna looked back along the line the return would produce ground clutter to a point where it saw nothing. Next in line was the Operations Van which housed all the equipment for the radar and radio equipment plus the controller and the other 76 Wing personnel. Next in line was the Lister diesel generator which furnished all the power for the station. A truck with all the equipment stores and spares plus a vehicle behind that and finally at the very end was the antenna for the wireless telephone. The latter was necessary because the controller had to talk by wireless with the pilot in the night fighter. The Lister diesel generator was interesting because it was hand started and was a brute of a thing. The handle was sufficiently long so two or three men could turn the crank to get it started. Once it got going it was left that way and was very reliable. A telephone line was fed in so as to get the information from our operations vehicle back to the sector operations centre. Located quite some distance from the parade line of our vehicles was a hastily erected Nissan hut which provided offices for the Commanding Officers, a mess room for the personnel, a first-aid room and then the restrooms. The four controllers had rooms where they slept and were not billeted in the village. In the Operations Vehicle the radar and radio equipment was all mounted at the front of the van and in the back was desks which housed the two cathode-ray oscilloscopes and a third position for the telephone operator. The controller sat on the right and his display was a PPI or Plan Position Indicator, cathode-ray oscilloscope. Above this equipment was clear Perspex like board which had a map of our sector on it so that when an aircraft was seen on the scope it could be identified as being in a certain square. Next to the controller typically there was a W.A.A.F Sergeant who sat in front of an x-y display cathode-ray scope. In this case the transmitting beam was on the right going vertically upward and then on the horizontal scale which was distance there was the ground clutter or a series of little ups and downs along the path. When a radar signal was received it would be a spike that would appear vertically and its position from the extreme right-hand side measured the distance it was from the station. The WAAF Sergeant who sat at this position had a switch which she could move back and forth to various arrays of the antenna and by so doing there would be two spikes and from the difference in heights of the two spikes she would determine altitude of the aircraft. The third position at the desk was for the telephone operator and she had an open wire line with the operation headquarters. If there were any enemy aircraft in or near our area, it would be advised from Group Command and likewise we would report back what we were seeing and doing. The equipment was in operation 22 hours a day, a two hour shutdown or off the air for maintenance and training and adjusting the equipment.
All personnel at this stage were billeted in Broad Haven with the W.A.A.F.s in Little Haven.”
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